Sinn Féin - On Your Side

TTIP risk to road safety- Lynn Boylan MEP

Sinn Féin MEP, Lynn Boylan has expressed her concern at the accusation
that the motor industry in the United States is trying to keep under a wraps a
study on car safety because it might interfere with the EU/US
trade negotiations.

The industry commissioned report shows US cars to
be significantly less safe in frontal collisions.

Ms Boylan said:

"Proponents of the Transatlantic Trade Agreement continuously tell
us that EU standards are not at risk in the trade deal and instead there will
be merely harmonisation of regulations. Well here we have in black and
white one example why harmonisation is not just a bad deal but a potentially
dangerous one for Irish motorists."

In a bid to make a strong case for harmonisation of car safety
standards, the American car industry commissioned a study into the differences
between EU and US car models.

This study was carried out by the leading traffic safety research
centres in the world and instead of finding that the differences were marginal,
the study found that EU car models were up to 33% safer.

Ms Boylan, a member of the Environment & Public Health
Committee said:

"There was much hype last year when the study
commenced but now that the findings are so damning it has been quietly
placed on the shelf, clearly in the hope that it will be forgotten during the
negotiations.

The more that emerges from this clandestine trade deal, the
more the Irish people should be worried. High safety standards were hard
fought for, are we now really going to compromise public safety to bolster
the profit margins of the car industry?"